Previews

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009

Spiffy:

All-new tag team gameplay; downloadable content and more online features; cooperative story mode.

Iffy:

Without hands-on time, we can't tell if the gameplay will be significantly improved over the last game.

Orlando's Citrus Bowl will play host to WrestleMania XXIV, where muscle-bound men and scantily clad women will beat themselves to a pulp, flying off of ladders and putting their lives and livelihood on the line to entertain a crowd of crazed sign-waving fans. In stark contrast, Walt Disney's carefully manufactured dream world of homogenized happiness and ultra-huggable anthropomorphic animation icons was where THQ held its press conference, teasing a mixed audience of gaming and sports media outlets with snippets of information about its next wrestling game, Smackdown vs. Raw 2009.

THQ's Senior Creative Manager Cory Ledesma gave a presentation outlining a few of the features and enhancements to the series that would be coming in this year's game. While this would not be an exhaustive, all-inclusive look at the game, he emphasized a quintet of key franchise improvements that would be the focus of this first look. Interestingly enough, he emphasized the importance of improving the game in areas that were met with negative response by critics, going on to say that it was his goal to improve review scores. While game critics often hope that their assessment of videogames during the review process are utilized constructively by developers and publishers, it was intriguing to hear this confirmed and how, at least in this case, it's helping shape the development process.

The first area where Ledesma said franchise improvement was needed was met by nods of agreement; after all, who doesn't want improved loading times? According to Ledesma, the developers have already been able to reduce load times by 50% across the board, emphasizing a need to address this issue in the match menu, when loading cut-scenes, and in loading screens in general.

Improving Smackdown vs. Raw's artificial intelligence is also a focus this year, and the publisher's goal is to release a game with an AI system that features more intelligent opponents that actually act like their real-life counterparts. Part of this system will revolve around Superstar-specific A.I. The Undertaker was utilized as an example. The plan is for him to use signature moves in key situations, so that when the fans would expect him to use his old-school move, the A.I. will do so.

Criticism of the franchise's commentary has apparently hit home, and the teams behind Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 will be recording three different play-by-play teams in the interest of variety. While multiple broadcast teams aren't the full solution, Ledesma stated that the team would focus on major enhancements to the play-by-play to eliminate repetition.

One of the stickier issues that critics have brought up in the past is hit detection, and an improvement on this fundamental aspect of gameplay is also planned. According to Ledesma, missed attacks will be a thing of the past. The new hit detection system makes motions track and connect with better accuracy. We're hoping that this will also apply to running attacks, which have been awkwardly implemented since the franchise's inception.

The last area for improvement discussed in the presentation was animation. The approach this year is to refine the blending system with over 300 smooth mo-cap animations. Recycled animations have been a sticking point with the press, but it will remain to be seen whether this will be enough of a renovation to make a true impact.